Spirals

by Scott Bergin

  "Very well." The man said. "And how would you like to..." Before the man could finish Thomas had already pulled out a small bundle of bills. The two men standing behind Thomas saw this and eagerly picked the bags back up.

  "Ah, very good." The man said when Thomas handed him two of the bills and took the key.

  "I'll settle the rest with you before I leave." Thomas said, then turned to face the two men. They stood wide eyed and smiling.

  "We'd be happy to show you a good place for pictures Mr. Thomas." One man replied. Then he motioned to the other, and both nodded their heads in agreement.

  "Maybe tomorrow." Thomas said. He realized that they had been listening to his conversation with the manager in the hopes of making an extra buck.

  "I'm pretty tired, and I'd just like to rest today." Thomas said. Then he led them down the only hallway, and to room six. With a twist of the handle the door swung open.

  "What's the key for?" Thomas asked, turning toward the two men.

  "People come to a hotel, they want a key." One man said.

  "Yes, but the door doesn't even have a key hole let alone a working lock." Thomas barked. He didn't like the idea of leaving all this equipment unprotected.

  "Ah, there is where you are wrong Mr. Thomas." The man replied. "This is your lock." He pointed to a slide lock mounted on the door casing.

  "That's fine for when I'm in the room, but what about when I'm not?" Thomas snapped.

  "I would be happy to watch your room for you Mr. Thomas." The man replied.

  "No thank you, I just want a door that can lock." Thomas grumbled.

  "And my name is LaRue, not Thomas." He added.

  "Sorry Mr. Thomas." The man replied without even thinking.

  "I could get you a door that locks." The second man said. "But I don't think it would do you much good." He added.

  "And why is that?" Thomas asked. The man said nothing. He simply pointed to the window on the far side of the room. The window had no lock either. In fact, it had no glass. It was an opening in the wall that had a bamboo curtain hanging above it. The curtain could be closed at night to keep the rain and animals out, but it was no deterrent to criminals. Thomas realized that security was not really an element here. He hoped that crime wasn't either. After he decided that the conversation was as pointless as it was frustrating, he ended it. He tipped them both, thanked them, and set them on their way.

  Thomas stood in his hotel room surrounded by bags and cases mislabeled as sensitive photographic equipment. He began to open them up and assemble the parts inside. Once completed Thomas sat on the floor next to his sizable electronic device. The device consisted of a small battery power pack, a laptop computer, a scrambler, and a small satellite dish near the window. Thomas started the system up without using the battery pack. That was strictly in case the power went out. In light of the quality of the security, Thomas was glad to have brought it. He figured that he might even black out the place just by starting it up, and he was relieved to see that he hadn't. The system booted up and Thomas used the laptop to link up with a global weather service. He then selected Cameroon. A map of Cameroon was displayed on the screen, next to it in specifics was scrolling text. There were no storms anywhere near northern Cameroon, and there wouldn't be for at least a week. That was excellent news. Then Thomas jumped out of the system, and entered the new signal for the satellite dish. Minutes later he was locked into a navigational system that allowed him to breakdown weather formations even further. He focused in on northern Cameroon. Then he looked at the different wind currents at various levels of altitude. The results were not what he had hoped to see. The low level and mid level currents were virtually stagnant, drifting slowly to the west. He was not totally upset with the results. The lack of storms in the area was far more important than the wind currents. The currents changed daily at the very least, but a storm could stall his plan for a week. Two weeks even, and that would put an end to his entire plan.

  The destruction he planned depended heavily on weather conditions, which was the only part of the plan he disliked. If a storm was to arise, the lethal gas cloud he hoped to create would be smothered very rapidly. That was his worst fear. The satellite imagery had shown him that there was no danger of that happening at all, and he was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Now it became a matter of waiting for the right wind speed and direction. There would be no sense in releasing the cloud if it was not going to travel in the proper direction. If the cloud moved too slowly, or didn't move at all, again it would have been a waste. Today detonating the bomb would be such a waste. The cloud would move in the wrong direction, if at all. The worst that could happen was unthinkable. If the currents were to shift the cloud east, he could easily endanger his own life. Even this distance would not be beyond the reach of the cloud. The trick lay in getting it to go in the proper direction, speed was secondary.

  The devastation that the flooding would cause was irrelevant as far as Thomas was concerned. At most, it provided more chaos and more for people to worry about. He had hoped that the world would focus on it, and not pay much attention to the cloud. Chaos was the key. The more destruction this natural disaster caused, the better off he knew he would be.

  Thomas was confident that this would not be the day that he would wreak havoc on these unsuspecting countries. Hopefully tomorrow's results would be better. Nothing he could do would help to hurry the situation along. Thomas figured that the best thing he could do was to get the sleep he had thought so much about earlier. He shut off the system and slid it out of view, by putting it in the bathroom and closing the door. Not only were the bedroom door and the window strange here, but the bathroom door as well. It opened outward. Thomas couldn't think of anywhere else he had seen a bathroom door that opened outward, except on an outhouse. He went over to the window and lowered the curtain in the hopes of dimming the light flowing in. It hardly had any affect at all. Thomas flopped forward onto the bed, then realized that it was as hard as a rock. He would have preferred to flop on his back and have the wind knocked out of him. At least then he wouldn't have bitten his tongue so bad. It seemed everywhere Thomas turned in this little room there was always a new surprise for him, and none were very pleasant. Thomas crawled under the covers and lay his head on the pillow. That is what he had truly missed the night before, a pillow. He threw the covers over his head to block out the light, and quickly fell asleep.

  Chapter 7

  April 8

  9:15 a.m.

  Bénoué Park, Cameroon

  The warm coffee he had fixed for himself had done the trick. Thomas was now fully awake, still sitting on his rock hard bed. He had been up since his alarm went off at nine o'clock. It was not until he had put down a half cup of steaming black coffee that he completely woke up. Now that his slumber was behind him the hopes he had for the new day were waiting to be discovered in the next room over. He took another sip of coffee before throwing the covers off his legs and getting off the uncomfortable bed.

  Thomas walked across the room and entered the bathroom. He looked down at the device that lay on the floor, and knew that it was time to get down to work. Thomas set his coffee on the small bathroom counter, and began to drag the system into the bedroom. He plugged the system in and carried the satellite dish over to the window. Thomas opened the bamboo curtain and revealed his apparatus to the sunlight beyond it. He aimed the satellite out the opening then headed back across the room. After retrieving his coffee from the counter, he seated himself on the floor in front of the system.

  With a flip of the switch the screen flashed and the device was up and running. The screen flickered as it loaded up the program, then the three choices appeared:

  Global Weather Pattern Information

  Wind Currents Through Navigational System

  Run Annihilation Sequence

  Thomas selected the first option. He had already examined it the day before, and there would hopefully be no new surprises, but he had to be certain. Th
e screen came up asking where to search, and he entered 'Cameroon'. The system paused for several seconds then the screen began to redraw, with a weather map of Cameroon. A quick look was all Thomas needed to see. There were no unexpected changes. There were still no storms in the area and there wouldn't be for at least a week. Thomas exited out of the program. The screen displayed the original three choices again, and Thomas selected the second.

  The screen went blank while the satellite received the information. Then the computer asked for the specific area to examine. Thomas entered in 'western Cameroon'. The screen froze again then asked which atmospheric levels to examine. Thomas entered 'All'. The computer began to display the wind speeds and directions for different the levels. The information was in the form of arrows laid over a blown up map of the region Thomas had selected. Text and specific information were in detail on the side. The arrow keys allowed Thomas to toggle back and forth between the different altitudes. He started by toggling all the way down to surface conditions. The wind was traveling south southeast at six miles per hour. This was excellent news. The wind was ideal at the surface level. If all other levels were good enough, this could be the day he had hoped for. Thomas quickly toggled up to the next altitude. The screen redrew the information, most of which was unchained. The wind between five hundred and ten thousand feet was traveling south southeast at twenty miles an hour. This was looking even better than he could have dreamed. Then he examined the last level that was of interest to him. The wind at altitudes of ten thousand to thirty-five thousand feet was stagnant. Thomas smiled at the sight of this. Today would be the day. The cloud he would create would do exactly as he had hoped. The rapid movement of the clouds higher up would not only insure that the toxic gas remained close to the earth's surface, but it would also insure that it kept moving in the proper direction. Thomas wanted to pinch himself to see if the coffee had really woke him up. He could hardly believe his luck on only the second day. It could have easily taken a week or more to get these conditions. Thomas had even been worried that only some conditions would be favorable, and that he would have to take a guess at whether the conditions were suitable enough. He was extremely relieved to find that this was not the case. He had no doubt that today would be the perfect day to send the message of destruction. Thomas exited the program, and the computer displayed the three choices again. Thomas paused, then selected the third option. The computer flashed to a blank screen, then the message appeared:

  Enter Detonation Code

  Thomas began to enter the code. As he entered each keystroke, the letter X appeared on the screen. This allowed him to know that a stroke had been entered in, without letting any onlookers know what it was. Thomas was glad that he had this function, considering that the nearby window provided an excellent view of the screen. He paused midway through entering the code in and spun around. The window was empty. Then he completed entering in the code. He pressed enter and the message appeared:

  Press Enter To Transmit Signal

  Thomas crossed his fingers and pressed the enter key. He thought about praying, but that would be stupid. What he was attempting to do was a most unholy thing. To pray for the death of thousands of innocent people would be rather pointless. Then the computer displayed a message he had not wanted or expected to see:

  System Error #651

  What the hell was a 651? Up until this point the system had run flawlessly. Both yesterday and today. Then he realized that he had not attempted to run the third program before. Not here anyway. He had run it many times before, when he was testing the system at home. Eventually he realized that there was only one way to figure out the problem. Thomas typed:

  Display Error #651

  Transmission not received / Incorrect code

  That was simple, he had given the wrong detonation code. When he got paranoid and looked out the window he had gotten lost, and mistyped the code. A simple retyping of the code would quickly correct the problem. Thomas reset the system, and the computer went back to the three choices. Again he selected the third option. The computer asked for the code. Thomas slowly entered the code in, thinking about each keystroke as he made it. K-I-L-L-A-L-L, This time there was no mistake it was definitely the correct code. He pressed enter and the computer displayed the usual message:

  Press Enter To Transmit Signal

  A bead of sweat ran down the side of Thomas' forehead. He thought about praying again, then he whispered to himself, "Please let this work." He pressed enter. The screen quickly threw up the message:

  System Error #651

  "That can't be." Thomas complained to the machine. "I didn't type it in wrong." Then Thomas thought for a minute. If he had given the correct code, then something else must be wrong. Something must have prevented the signal from being sent or received. Since the signals to the global services were sent without any problem, the problem must be in the transmission's reception. Then Thomas thought about the biggest screw up possible. Had he forgotten to turn the other end of the system on? He couldn't recall. When he was on the dam installing the other end of the satellite system, had he turned the power on before he left?

  "Shit!" Thomas screamed throwing his cup of coffee across the room. All this planning, and waiting, for nothing. He must have forgotten to throw one little power switch on the other satellite dish, and that had made everything useless. Thousands of lives would be spared, but millions of dollars would be lost. Thomas couldn't care less about who died and who didn't, but all the hard work he and Hector had done for nothing was very upsetting. Thomas vigorously ran his fingers through his hair. What would he tell Hector? That he cost them their life's dream because he forgot to press a button on some machine. He realized that everything would be wasted if that were the case. There simply was no time to head back to the dam, then back to the park. Everything had to be done right the first time, and it hadn't. Then Thomas thought that it didn't have to be the satellite that he had forgotten to turn on, it could have been the descrambler. Either way the devices were still hundreds of miles away, and he had no way to get there and back in a reasonable amount of time. Then the idea struck him. The problem may still be at this end of the system. He looked over at the system, and realized he was right.

  "Aha!" He shouted as he looked at the scrambler. He had not forgotten to turn on the descrambler, he had forgotten to turn on the scrambler. He reached over and pressed the power switch on it. A little green light lit up. Thomas reset the computer again. He selected the 'Run Annihilation Sequence' option again. The computer showed the usual prompt, and Thomas slowly entered the code in. The computer displayed the message:

  Press Enter To Transmit Signal

  Thomas held his breath and pressed enter. This time the computer went blank, no error message. Then the computer displayed a new message, and a new set of options.

  Transmission Sequence Completed:

  Detonate

  Abort

  Thomas was relieved to see the message. He had not forgotten to turn on any of the equipment at the dam. Thomas starred at the screen for a full minute, then selected 'Detonate'. Again the screen read:

  Transmission Sequence Completed

  Quickly this message was interrupted by another:

  System Error #483

  "All right what the hell is a 483," Thomas snapped at the computer. Then he typed:

  Display Error #483

  Transmission Interrupted / Incomplete Transmission

  Thomas thought for a second then realized that this would be normal. The other satellite had been destroyed in the blast, apparently in the middle of transmitting its last message. A few seconds and he would know for sure. Thomas went back through the program step by step. He entered in the code to transmit and hit enter. The computer displayed its usual message:

  Press Enter To Transmit Signal

  Thomas pressed enter, and saw a message he never thought he would be happy to see:

  System Error #651

  The system was unable to link
up with the other satellite, and there was only one explanation. The signal was successfully sent, and the dam was destroyed. Thomas had expected to see the computer tell him that the destruction was completed. That was the signal that had been interrupted. The system was interrupted by the blast, in a way telling him the same thing. Thomas had no doubt that the system had done even more than he had expected. It had destroyed itself in the process. There would be no way to detect that the destruction was caused by a person. Not with the device being buried on a mountainside under tons of mud and lava. Thomas had tried to make sure that the satellite could not be traced to him or Hector, but now he could rest at ease. It would not be traced, because it would not be found. Thomas shut the system off. He slid the entire system back into the bathroom and closed the curtain again. He had planned to drag all the equipment out into the jungle and abandon it, after thoroughly destroying it beyond recognition. Since the other end of the system was destroyed, he decided that this was no longer necessary. All it would do would be to attract attention to himself. He would just abandon the equipment somewhere down the line, somewhere no one would notice, somewhere that everyone was gone or dead.

  Thomas lay down on the bed and relaxed, proud of his accomplishments. He starred at the ceiling and tried to envision the magnitude to the devastation he had created. His only regret was that he could not be there to witness the destruction as it happened. Though he was sure that he would get to see some of the aftermath soon enough.

  Chapter 8

  April 8

  9:35 a.m.

  Lake Nyos, Cameroon

  The dam shook tremendously, with the force of an earthquake that would register a nine on the Richter scale. The dam broke into thousands of tiny pieces, but it still held its shape. Then all at once, the dam began to slide out of position. In seconds the water forced the dam to slide over the ledge to the north. The dam fell the length of the ledge and led the billions of gallons of water toward the mountainside. There was another shaking of the earth, as the dam crashed into the mountain far below the lake. The water now flowed freely from the lake. As the flood made its way out of the lake it passed a single standing tree. On this tree was the small satellite Thomas had hung there. It stood out against the natural background, and anyone traveling there would surely notice it in an instant.